THE BLOOD YEARS

Carlotta Brentan infuses this audio with all the emotional intensity it deserves. It recounts the childhood experiences of the author's grandmother, Rieke, in Holocaust-era Romania. Brentan's narration does full justice to the heroine's reactions to the complex personal and political upheavals she encountered. Brentan anchors us firmly in Rieke's feelings toward her family--her deep love for Opa, her beloved grandfather, and her impatience with her mother's many headaches and concerns about Astra, Rieke's elder sister. By the audio's end, this divided family unites against Jewish prejudice, the Russian invasion, and, finally, the horrors of Nazi brutality. Together, they prove Opa's belief that "we can love more persistently than they can hate." S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2023]